SEE NO EVIL: An Interview with Christina VidalBy Brad Balfour
May 16, 2006With "See No Evil" Spanish Harlem born actress Christina Vidal definitely breaks out of the mold of singer/siren/TV star. In this new entry in the creepy slasher serial killer genre, she become target number one for a seven foot tall, four hundred pound psychopath named Jacob Goodnight (played by wrestling legend Kane) with a steel plate
in his skull who kills with razor sharp fingernails.

A group of petty crooks stir up Goodnight with horrific results. Well, this gorgeous 24 year old Latina New Yorker got to test both her acting and screaming skills in ways she had never tired before. But coming from a family that includes two older actress sisters and a supportive mom and dad, she has been encouraged to try different things such as kids films (she was the first Puerto Rican-American child actress to have a lead in an American motion picture--Life With Mikey), a lead role in a sit-com (Tania), and pop star (she is making a new album at the moment).

Alright. I guess we'll start with some obvious questions. How did you get cast for this part?

Chris Vidal: I just went to the audition, and they put me on tape for the director, who's Gregory Dark. And actually, I didn't hear from them for a few weeks, and I thought, "Well I guess I didn't get it." And they just called me out of nowhere and said that the
director booked me off my tapes.

So obviously you've done some films, but this is not exactly what you expected to be doing.

Christina Vidal: This is my first horror film. So it was very exciting and challenging for me. And a lot of work. Horror films are a lot of work.

What's different between doing this and, say, Freaky Friday?

Christina Vidal: Oh, gosh. It's much more work. It's much more time consuming. You need a lot of energy—the running, the screaming. You have to constantly be at
level ten because the killer is right behind you. You can't forget that just because they said, "action!" or "cut!" five minutes ago. So it was very challenging for me, but rewarding, also, to have done that. I learned a lot from it. I had a great time.

Now when you're doing the screaming, is there a certain kind of rehearsing you have to do? Is there an "I couldn't get my scream quite right?"

Christina Vidal: As a matter of fact, I did go home and rehearse my screaming because I was very bad at it. I sounded like a monkey or something when I tried to scream, so I had to go home and actually work on my horror film scream.

When you think about it, screaming is not the easiest thing. When you're like, "Go ahead and scream," it takes a while to work up to it.

Christina Vidal: Absolutely. I don't scream when I'm scared. I more just [she gasps], or something like that. But they needed like [she screams]. So I had to really work on getting that out.

So where did you get your primal scream from? Did you have to think of something, or when you scream do you have to push it? Did you go back to some horror films?

Christina Vidal: I just practiced screaming at the top of my lungs. Then I worked it out from there.

In doing a role like this, it's a slightly different fanbase, I would say. Were you
interested in it because you wanted to shift the fanbase a little bit?

Christina Vidal: I was interested in it because I had never done a horror film before. I thought I would be interesting to do. And fun. But I'm definitely glad that it's opened me up to another whole audience. I didn't realize how big the wrestling audience is.

That's right. You've not only got horror film fans, you've got wrestling fans. Now that must have been a strange experience.

Christina Vidal: It was very funny when we did the red carpet. We had just come from a wrestling match, and all those fans came to watch the screening as well. And on the red carpet, it's just a different energy. They're just yelling and screaming and very violent
and some guy yelled out to me, "You need to eat some cornbread, girl!" I was just like, "Okay, I'll work on that." It was fun, though.

Did you feel a certain commitment to go to wrestling matches to get more familiar with Kane's career?

Christina Vidal: I started watching definitely after I got the part. And he's bad-ass. He's scary.

I would imagine that when you hang out, he's the most gentle puppy that you could ever…no.

Christina Vidal: I wouldn't call him a gentle puppy, but he's intimidating. He's quiet, and he keeps to himself. Unless he's acting like a psychopath in the movie. He's pretty much really quiet.

Had you been a horror film fan before this?

Christina Vidal:No.

No. So you never really watched them.

Christina Vidal: I have before, but I don't like them because I'm a scaredy-cat.

You're a scaredy-cat. You can't watch your own movie.

Christina Vidal: Exactly. I'm scared to watch my own movie. That's true. There are some parts when I had to cover my eyes.

Did you really?

Christina Vidal: Mmm-hmm.

Oh, c'mon.

Christina Vidal: I did! Because I wasn't there for most of them, and I didn't realize how gory and scary they turned out. I actually closed myeyes.

So how much did you get involved with the movie? When you do a film like that, you read the entire script, even if you're not in every scene and every part.

Christina Vidal: Yes.

How much did it change or did it become the film you thought it would be when you finally saw the finished version?

Christina Vidal: Actually, they changed the script a lot, even before they started shooting. When I got to Australia, the director came in and made it a lot more stylish because he came from music videos, so it was really cool how he shot it. I was impressed with the
special effects.

In what way were you impressed?

Christina Vidal: They were good. They really looked like someone's eyeball was being ripped out, and it looked like real blood. It's just the way he shot it—he would intercut Kane's face with something from the past, and it was just cool how he did it. It looked like a music video, but it was a movie.

So once you got the part, what did you do to prepare? Did you see any of his music videos? Did you feel that was important to you?

Christina Vidal: I didn't because I would really need to see that. He never directed anything where he had to work with actors. He always worked with musicians. So
I didn't look him up, really.

You've done singing and dancing and all those other things.

Christina Vidal: Yes.

Did that help at all, or were you nervous in screaming that you'd lose the singing voice?

Christina Vidal: The singing voice probably helped with the screaming, but no. I didn't have to do any singing or dancing or anything like that in this film. A lot of running.

You've done TV. You've got a singing career. You've now done one genre film. Are you
thinking about doing films that work from your background from having grown up in New York and Spanish Harlem?

Christina Vidal: Yes. I definitely want to.

Are you looking to do more of that kind of thing?

Christina Vidal: My sisters and I have a deal with Touchstone and ABC. George Lopez is executive producing for a pilot about our lives.

Really?

Christina Vidal: Yes. The three sisters will star in it. We're going to incorporate a lot of our stories and a lot of our past with our families in that show, so I'm looking forward to doing that. The next film that I want to do is a romantic comedy. So I'm looking for
that.

Where are you in age with your sisters? Are you the youngest, the oldest?

Christina Vidal: I am the youngest. There are three girls and a boy, and I'm the youngest of all four.

Interviewer: What are they doing now?

Christina Vidal: Lisa is an actress. Lisa Vidal. She's a very successful actress.

Right.

Christina Vidal: Tanya is a writer. She's also an actress, and she's getting into some directing. She actually wrote and directed a short film that I starred in, called The Mosquito. It did really great.

Did Kane introduce you to any of his wrestling friends?

Christina Vidal: We went to a wrestling match right before the screening of the movie, and I saw a lot of grown men in bikini bottoms with all kinds of lightning bolts and…one guy had strawberries. It was very colorful. Their very into their costumes.

So the bulk of your experience has been primarily with TV. Do you see yourself continuing with TV?

Christina Vidal: Yeah. I love television. It's a great gig. I love half-hour comedies. I love doing one-hour dramas. One hour dramas are like shooting a movie very day of the week for a year. But it's good. I love television.

You can always call. But in any case, getting back to the movie for a moment, in doing the film, what did you get from it in terms of experience? You've done a horror film. Did it make you interested in doing other genres? Or does it make you want to go
back and do another horror film? If this has sequels upon sequels, will you be signed up to fight?

Christina Vidal: It depends what the sequel would be. I don't like sequels. I find sequels are very tricky to do, and they haven't always been done well. Sequels are tricky, especially when the movie is great and has done well. It's kind of hard to follow it up. But I would definitely look into it and read the script and see what it would be about. I don't want to do another horror film for a while. Just because it is such a specific genre of film. You don't want to do too many of those and just be the horror film chick.

Did you get to improvise in the horror film at all?

Christina Vidal: You know, you'd be surprised how much cursing you do in a horror film. When you get scared, the first thing you want to say is the F-word. Or, you know, "Oh, S-H-I-T." So I did a lot of that, and actually, the director was like, "So I was thinking
maybe we could cut down on the Fs and the shits." He's like, "Is there anything else you can say?" and I'm like, "I don't know." If I'm scared out of my mind—I'm from New York—and the first thing I'm going to say is, "Oh fuck!" He said, "I know. But it's too much, and we're going to have to a lot of ADR for the TV version to cover it up."